“Here you literally have wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars that could have gone into student scholarships, reduction of fees — whatever — to educate more students in California,” said Leland Yee, a Democratic state senator from San Francisco who has been critical of Mr. Yudof’s management of the U.C.

Lack of oversight and accountability enabled Yudof to rack up those bills, university officials said.

In one expense, the university spent nearly $20,000 — including $530.04 an hour in overtime — to fix an indoor elevator that the landlord said was under warranty and could have been repaired at no charge.

About the blogger

Alex Friedrich reports on higher education issues for MPR News. Among the stories he has covered: the fall of the Berlin Wall, aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, 2003 Moscow suicide bombing and 2004 presidential elections in the Republic of Georgia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s in European political economy from the London School of Economics.